UConn women roll past Purdue 86-40 in Paradise Jam finale

UConn guard Christyn Williams, left, defends Purdue guard Karissa McLaughlin, right, during the first half of Saturday's game in the Paradise Jam tournament at the University of the Virgin Islands' Sports and Fitness Center on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. (Bill Kiser / Virgin Islands Daily News)

After back-to-back nights of grueling games, including playing nearly 40 minutes Friday night, Katie Lou Samuelson and Napheesa Collier stepped onto the court for the final game of the Paradise Jam tournament and showed exactly why they’re on nearly every award watch list in existence.

Behind dominant performances from Samuelson and Collier, the Huskies rolled past Purdue 86-40 to take home the Paradise Jam Reef Division Trophy. Samuelson led the team with 22 points, sinking three 3-pointers within a minute in the first quarter. Collier, who was named tournament MVP, notched her second double-double of the tournament and third of the season. She ended the game with 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Advertisement

“I say this all the time: There are a couple of things about our team that I hope become constants. 1. Lou’s going to make a lot of 3s, and when they start going in and they go in early, we play with a lot of confidence,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. “2. If Napheesa doesn’t get a double-double, I think there’s something wrong with her, and I ask our doctor if she’s fine because if Napheesa’s not getting a double-double, then I feel like something’s not right with the world, because that’s how hard she works. That’s how relentless she is.”

With Samuelson and Collier shooting lights out in the first half, UConn was able to remedy the things that went wrong against St. John’s in the second night of the tournament. On Saturday, the Huskies’ offense was fast paced with lots of ball movement. They also played with smothering defense, winning the rebounding battle and forcing Purdue to take tough shots at the buzzer. Behind the seniors, the Huskies got out to a big lead early and kept it thanks to a late surge from freshman Christyn Williams.

Samuelson gave UConn its initial burst, knocking down 3-pointer after 3-pointer and coming within two of the American Athletic Conference’s 3-point record. By the end of the first quarter, Samuelson was already up to 13 points and 4 rebounds.

Collier’s success in the paint came almost as quickly, and by halftime she was up to 15 points and 8 rebounds, and UConn had a 47-18 lead. Last season, the 6-foot-2 forward totaled six double-doubles on the entire season, but with three in five games this year it’s looking like she’s on pace to have another year like her sophomore season. She recorded 16 double-doubles that year. While Auriemma said he expects a double-double every night from her, Collier said she doesn’t pay much attention to it at all.

“I’m not really worried about the stats when I go in the game,” she said. “I’m just worried about what I have to do to guard my man and what we’re doing on offense and staying active on offense and on defense. I think about those things more than I worry about what the stat line is.”

As Samuelson and Collier were pushing the Huskies’ lead higher and higher in the third quarter, with the help of Crystal Dangerfield and Megan Walker, Williams was preparing to take over for the seniors. She’d had a rough first half, starting slow and making a few mistakes that prompted Auriemma to scold her on the sidelines. He was frustrated, he said, because she still wasn’t grasping a concept they’d practiced the past two days.

The stern talk worked. Williams, who also played 40 minutes the night before, went off in the second half. She scored 12 points to bring her final stat line to 17 points and 3 rebounds. She drained four 3-pointers in the second half, two on consecutive possessions, to end the night with five threes.

“I got really mad at her during the game and she did exactly what I knew she would do,” Auriemma said. “She got this look on her face like she wanted to punch me, and I knew someone was going to pay for that. I knew it wasn’t going to be me, it was going to be somebody out on the court.

“She’s really a tough, tough kid and a tremendous competitor. I knew once she decided to get involved defensively that it was going to be not just a bucket or a couple buckets here and there, it was going to be a bunch. And that’s who she is. That’s who she was in high school and that’s who we recruited, that kid right there that you saw tonight.”

With Williams’ assistance, UConn’s defense had a strong performance Saturday night. The Huskies held Purdue to 24.6 percent shooting from the field and pulled down 10 more rebounds than the Boilermakers while forcing 14 turnovers. Auriemma attributed the defensive success to disrupting Purdue’s rhythm and then using UConn’s brutal pace to wear down the Boilermakers.

“People scout us and watch us play and see us play in person,” Auriemma said, “but when they get on the court and actually play against us, it’s a tough adjustment.”